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Editorial: Packaging Smoke and Mirrors
... We talk a lot about the packaging of compound semi devices, but in this communications-driven international marketplace, how a company's corporate message gets packaged can make all the difference in the world in actually scoring new business. As compound semi device manufacturers look for the next "Oh Gosh/Gee Whiz"...
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April 25, 2005...As followup to our April 21st coverage,
according to an April 25 article
over Nikkei Net Interactive, two of the giants in the blue laser-based next
generation DVD world, namely Sony Corporation and Toshiba Corporation, have
revealed that they have been working to reach an agreement that would create
a hybrid standard format. The two "camps" that Sony and Toshiba represent
have been in a three year struggle and each camp has produced a different format.
Sony has been the catalyst for the Blu-ray
Disc Association format, and Toshiba, along with NEC, spearheaded the HD-DVD
Promotional Group. Both groups have been working under the official Japan-based
standards-setting body called the DVD
Forum. Blu-ray has enlisted more than 100 supporters and HD-DVD has the
backing of 83 companies. For those unfamiliar with this issue, the compound
semi industry is the ultimate winner all around. Current DVDs are based on our
industry's red laser diodes. The next generation DVDs are based on blue laser
diodes made of GaN epitaxy materials. Nichia of Japan pioneered the development
and manufacture of blue laser diodes, but other compound semi industry players,
such as Cree Inc. of Durham, North Carolina in the USA are working vigorously
on creating blue laser diodes with lifetimes competitive with Nichia. Many other
companies and universities are also potential contenders, but so far, Nichia
is definitely the leading commercial supplier. An update of the blue laser market
will be provided attendees at our BLUE 2005
meet May 16-18 in Taiwan, by Asif Anwar, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics.
Asif will be speaking at 9:30a Tuesday, May 17th.
The Nikkei Net article
pointed out that Sony and Toshiba "stepped up closed-door negotiations
around February to find a resolution to their standoff. After reaching a basic
agreement that a unified standard would be best, they are now looking to develop
a hybrid standard that takes advantage of both of their strengths." The
two have yet to complete an actual detailed agreement, but they're evidently
briefing Hollywood movie studios and companies such as Walt Disney Co. and Time
Warner, the ultimate major systems integrators and end users of blue laser-based
systems. Some systems have already hit the market, with the next big wave expected
to hit next year. The pressure to come up with a compromise that issues just
one common format evidently stems from the consumer electronics market overall
which has been suffering significant drops in prices of red laser based systems.
They hope to see a significant rise in market revenues with the blue laser-based
systems. Since Toshiba's release of their blue laser DVD player and Sony's blue
laser video-game machine are both readying for market, it's now or never if
a compromise is to be reached. Nikkei reminded readers that in March, Sony's
incoming CEO, Howard Stringer, expressed his support for a standard that can
encompass both formats, so it's quite likely Mr. Stringer is the catalyst for
the current compromise efforts.
JDS Uniphase Tightens Belt Further With Plant Consolidations
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 21, 2005...In a move all too common to the optoelectronic industry, JDS Uniphase is tightening its belt with another round of plant consolidations. JDS Uniphase Corporation of San Jose, California USA, explained its current manufacturing consolidation strategy. According to the company this strategy includes: consolidating its Ewing, New Jersey and Melbourne, Florida manufacturing to its Shenzhen, China facility and to the facilities of two manufacturing partners; transferring its Ewing and Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, manufacturing facilities to Fabrinet, a key manufacturing partner; Reduce manufacturing in Santa Rosa, California, associated with the phasing out of certain display products including high-volume consumer light engines and coated micro display windows.
In this round of consolidation, the company expects to reduce the manufacturing positions by more than 15 percent (approximately 700 people plus 150 people in support positions) by the end of the calendar year. Research and development will continue at all sites, except Mountain Lakes.“These initiatives are part of a multi-quarter business transformation strategy for JDS Uniphase to achieve profitability by reducing cost structure and improving corporate agility,” said President and CEO Kevin Kennedy. “We firmly believe that our ability to restructure major operations and rationalize our current portfolio, while investing in next-generation products, positions JDS Uniphase for success and differentiates us from the competition.” Sony Open to DVD Format Discussion
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 21, 2005...Sony Corporation of Tokyo, Japan says its open to a discussion about new DVD disk standards. This will hopefully head off a war among the large companies vying to create and control the market with their new standard. "From the point of view to provide the best service to the consumer one format is better than two. We're open to discussions," Yukinori Kawauchi, general manager in charge of the next DVD format at Sony's Video Group, said in an interview. He said that specific proposals had yet to be tabled.A number of major companies have chosen sides supporting each the two competing formats, HD DVD, and Blu-ray which both offer higher capacity than current DVD’s. Japan's TDK Corp., Sony and Philips Electronics are part of a large consortium promoting Blu-ray against a group led by Toshiba Corp. and its HD DVD technology. Apple, Dell, and Hewlett Packard have also joined the push for the Blu-ray format.
The first players and recorders with the new formats are expected to reach the market by the end of this year. Technology specialists are already drawing comparisons between the current technology conflict and the battle between VHS and Beta for video recording. At stake in the conflict is a $10 million DVD recorder/player market. Industry analysts project the total value of all DVD products on the market will rise about 18 percent per year to $77 billion in 2009 from the current $33 billion. Blue lasers are at the core of the new technologies. They have shorter wavelengths than current DVD players which use red lasers and therefore can store and retrieve data in higher densities needed for high-definition movies and television. Hollywood studios are also divided on the issue. Edwards Technologies Ltd. Wins Golden Peak Award in Taiwan
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 20, 2005...Edwards Technologies Ltd.(ETL), a subsidiary of BOC Edwards of Wilmington, Massachusetts USA, known for its vacuum and electronic gases technology, was honored by the government of Taiwan with the Golden Peak Award for outstanding business achievement. The award was presented at the 9th annual Golden Peak Award Ceremony in Taipei, Taiwan. Vice President of the Legislative Yuan, one of the five major Taiwan government branches, Mr. Chung Rong Chi, presented the award.
The award is given by the Outstanding Enterprise Manager Association, ROC, an organization devoted to recognizing Taiwan's small- and medium-sized business enterprises in many industries. Achievements are measured in three categories: outstanding enterprise, outstanding products, and outstanding leaders. Edwards Technologies Ltd. was recognized in all three categories for achievements in the semiconductor and flat panel display industries. "Edwards Technologies has vigorously participated in the rapid growth of semiconductor and flat panel display (FPD) manufacturing sectors in the region" said Tony Chao, ETL general manager. "This achievement represents the delivery of key business strategies as well as the efforts of the entire ETL team in providing continued excellence in serving our customers.” Company News Release Goldeneye Appears on Radar With New Patent
Scott McMahanApril 20, 2005...After receiving one of 11 applied-for patents, a newcomer called Goldeneye of Carlsbad, California USA, has entered our radar screen in the LED lighting industry. The patent, 6,869,206, describes a new method for the fabrication of high intensity LED-based light sources. William (Bill) Livesay is the company’s president and CEO. He was also the founder and CEO of Electron Vision. Carl Beeson is the vice president and Scott Zimmerman is the director. Both of them come from Honeywell. All three in the experienced team have authored or co-authored numerous patents. The company has a substantial and comprehensive IP portfolio with 10 filings related to solid state lighting. One of the company's major goals is to develop a system with a brightness and efficiency that engineers of other companies can use to replace arc lamps in digital projection TV’s.
Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... Raytheon and Cree Confirm $26.9 Million DARPA Contract for GaN RF Components
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 18, 2005...Raytheon Company's Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) of Tweksbury,
Massachusetts USA and Cree Inc. of Durham, North Carolina USA and have confirmed
that they are the third and final team to be awarded contracts totaling $26.9
million over three years under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA) WideBandgap Semiconductor (WBS) Technology Initiative. According to
Raytheon, the news was originally announced Feb. 11th by the Defense Department
but only now appeared over the wires. CompoundSem News covered the original
two awards March 14th (ref: our editorial titled The
Long Awaited DARPA GaN Awards) when the TriQuint team, and then Northrop
Grumman team formally announced their awards.
The DARPA initiative aims to accelerate development of Gallium Nitride (GaN)
RF products for military and commercial applications. Like the other two teams,
the Raytheon-Cree effort will focus on X-band transmit/receive modules based
on GaN-on-SiC technology to improve efficiency of radar applications. The effort
is being likened to the early "MIMIC Program" (monolithic microwave-milimeterwave
ICs) that yielded over $500 million in revenue for the GaAs epitaxy field
and sparked the monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) industry.
Raytheon will be the primary contractor for their WBS team, and Cree will be
a subcontractor. Cree is expected to get $11 million of the $26.9 million. If
all options are exercised, the gains for both companies could total $56.9 million
with an estimated $24.5 million going to Cree. Cree has been developing GaN-on-silicon
carbide (SiC) RF devices since 1996. The semiconductor work will be conducted
at Raytheon RF components (Raytheon's MMIC foundry) in Andover, Massachusetts;
and Cree’s Durham, North Carolina Wide Bandgap MMIC foundry and Santa Barbara
Technology Center in Goleta, California. University of California, Santa Barbara,
as well as researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology and the University
of California, San Diego will be working with Cree and Raytheon on the project.
The award is being billed as The Raytheon-Cree team by Raytheon and the Cree-Raytheon
team by Cree. "The Raytheon-Cree team has the systems knowledge, technical
leadership, and semiconductor infrastructure to assure program success and transition
into systems," said Mark Russell, IDS's vice president of Engineering.
John Palmour, Cree's Executive Vice President, Advanced Devices, stated, "The
same improvements that will make GaN components viable for military systems
insertion we believe, will also make them viable for insertion into cellular
infrastructure, as well as other burgeoning wireless applications. Combining
our efforts with Raytheon is intended to accelerate the potential deployment
of this important enabling technology." Raytheon's program manager
for the WBGS-RF (Wide Bandgap Semiconductors for Radio Frequency) applications
program added, "Teaming with Cree is all about speed -- combining the
capabilities of the scientists at both companies will make this technology available
to the warfighter much sooner." Raytheon, with 2004 sales of $20.2
billion, is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, now employs 80,000 people
worldwide. More details are in both Raytheon's
news release and in Cree's
news release which differ somewhat in content.
Our news features are reported
by the CompoundSemi News staff writers.
For submissions or content suggestions, you can contact us using
editor -at - compoundsemi.com
For more information and to reserve promotion space contact
Info7 -at - compoundsemi.com
or call +1 (512) 257-9888 |
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The
McDonald Report
Commentary & Perspective...
Packaging Smoke and MirrorsApril 21, 2005...We talk a lot about the packaging of compound semi devices, but in this communications-driven
international marketplace, how a company's corporate message gets packaged can
make all the difference in the world in actually scoring new business. As compound
semi device manufacturers look for the next "Oh Gosh/Gee Whiz"
trend to follow, what we're seeing is an astonishingly fast race to offer GaN
electronic device foundry capability. At latest count by one of the major potential
customers for upgrades in communication device testing equipment, over a dozen
companies were already offering or saying they would offer GaN-based electronic
device foundry products and services in the near future. The person looking
for and characterizing samples found only two companies - one in Europe and
one in the USA - interested in actually engaging with a potential customer for
their foundry services, present or upcoming. Evidently most of the others were
actually offering "smoke and mirrors."
I was astonished there were so many names on the list. The caller was asking
if he'd left any out, so we exchanged notes, my list being much shorter.
At last compilation, here were all the names we could come up with. These are
not... and I repeat, NOT, in any sort of order or ranking, whatsoever:
Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Rockwell, HRL, RFMD, Cree, QinetiQ, MicroGaN, Nitronex,
Fujitsu (and possibly other Japanese companies, SEI perhaps), TriQuint, IMEC,
SET Inc., and Osemi. What I'd like to hear from our readers, are any additions,
subtractions, or qualifiers regarding the list.
I personally haven't "run" this list, but our staff has been chartered
to see what they can come up with. Your input would be greatly appreciated.
There is some excellent work being done in universities, of course, and the
trend these days is to spin off a commercial venture from a university, hoist
a corporate flag, and see if anyone salutes it. SET Inc. has done that, as a
spinoff of the University of South Carolina. The WBG operation is being run by
Asif Khan who truly did pioneer GaN electronics. Nitres had the same sort of
scenario, spinning off of UC Santa Barbara, which eventually sold to Cree. Nitres
is now Cree's Santa Barbara research center, which is doing true state of the
art R&D.
One of the companies that got especially good marks was a German foundry called
MicroGaN. Their website doesn't provide
much background about the company, but it does a very good, no-nonsense job
of explaining the technology basics and product/capability offerings. I especially
liked their compact description of what GaN-based electronics is all about and
how to use it. It's a good basic primer to those new to the field. Here's how
they explain it (edited only slightly and compacted):
"The wide band gap material GaN (Gallium-Nitride) and its ternary compounds
AlGaN (Aluminium-Gallium-Nitride) and InGaN (Indium-Gallium-Nitride) are characterized
by high breakdown voltages. This enables employment of high operation voltages.
Therefore GaN utilizes power transistors with power densities and high output
impedance above the classical GaAs/InP “High Electron Mobility Transistors“
(HEMTs) and “Hetero-junction Bipolar Transistors“ (HBTs). The major
advantages of the GaN transistor technology can be summarized as follows: 1)
high operation voltage, 2) high output impedance, 3) high power density, and
4) high temperature durability. These device-properties effect a reduction of
circuit complexity, raise efficiency and bandwidth, increase lifetime of modules
and last but not least reduce cost of systems."
We'll be getting in touch with MicroGaN's principals and will provide more information
ASAP in our news pages. Located in Ulm, Germany, the company apparently was
founded in 2002 by Ingo Daumiller and Mike Kunze. According to their website,
their foundry offerings include three device-configurations: InGaN-HEMTs, AlGaN-HEMTs,
and GaN-MESFETs on two substrate types: sapphire and silicon.
MicroGaN's offerings aside, I informed my big company evaluator that the field
is still in its nascent stage, despite what people say and do. One of the furthest
along with GaN on Si, is Nitronex having proved themselves on TriQuint's production
line. And I told him all three companies acting as the primes for the new DARPA
WBG initiative ( Ref: our March
14th news and editorial coverage and April
18th news). All are definitely in line to become major GaN electronics
foundries, especially TriQuint, which is more likely to actually open their
doors in a pure play manner than either Northrop Grumman or Raytheon. But it's
still early in the game to expect much real product. I also gave him the names
of some good resource people who know their GaN.
What I found most disturbing in my conversation with the GaN market evaluator was the subtle
deception he was seeing, feeling, and believing about what a company actually
had to offer. Veterans of the silicon wars in the 1970s and early compound semi
"burn" victims of the 1980s would call that classic "smoke and
mirror" marketing, thus the inspiration for the title of this editorial.
Would it hurt to be upfront and open about what you actually have to offer versus
what you'd like to offer in the future? It would certainly be refreshing.
Packaging smoke and mirrors takes a lot of bubble wrap. Smoke is hard to contain.
Mirrors are fragile. It's much easier to package reliable GaN-based IC devices
that meet the specs, and ship those as samples. If you have them. If you don't,
say so and let the customer get on with the business at hand. If you stay upfront
with them, they'll come back and sample your goods when the goods are really
ready. If you deceive them now, the customer may never trust you again.
If you have questions about the
solid state lighting and compound semiconductor industries or have news
or views to share, I'm Jo Ann McDonald, Editor of LIGHTimes and CompoundSemi News.
Feel free to contact me directly, anytime. 
My direct tel at the ranch is
+1-325-463-5345
From time to time Jo Ann may comment on companies in which she holds a
modest investment - be sure to read
her disclosure at some point in time... |
